


when we meet at orion's belt

by skvadern



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Dom/sub, F/M, Femdom, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Episode: RQG177 Last Words (Part 2), Protectiveness, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:00:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27729898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skvadern/pseuds/skvadern
Summary: After Azu brings Howard back from the museum, she finds herself re-evaluating their relationship. Howard doesn't help matters whatsoever.
Relationships: Azu/Commander James Barnes (Rusty Quill Gaming), Azu/Commander James Barnes (Rusty Quill Gaming)/Howard Carter (Rusty Quill Gaming), Azu/Howard Carter (Rusty Quill Gaming), Commander James Barnes/Howard Carter (Rusty Quill Gaming)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 25





	when we meet at orion's belt

**Author's Note:**

> title from orions belt by sabrina claudio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“See,” she murmurs, “you don’t have to do it on your own. I said I’d protect you, and I meant it.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. this fic is absolutely going to devolve into kinky porn. this first chapter? not kinky porn. very much the set up to the kinky porn. porn in progress. there'll probably be a whole lot of emotions as well. basically 177 took me out at the knees and i had to get this out before it got jossed

Azu talks and talks, spilling out the story of every insane thing her friends have done to an attentive Howard. She doesn’t bother to lower her voice, or try to quiet her boots clanking against the fine stone floors, and Howard’s too obviously enthralled by her stories to notice the maelstrom of shushing they wade through.

It itches at her, all that disapproval, but Azu straightens her spine and squares her shoulders. She’s here for something more important than some stuck up phantoms.

She only brakes when Howard’s face, bright with interest even as age creeps back over it, twists in on itself. His stumble echoes around the enormous room, one of his hands twisting to clutch at his back.

“Howard?” she asks, voice jolting up the octaves. _No, please, we’re so close_ -

He doubles over, other hand burying into his hair. Azu grabs for him, and manages to catch him before his knees give out. _”Hurts_ ”, he hisses through clenched teeth – how does he still sound so young?

“I’m sorry,” Azu says helplessly. “We can- we can go back, if you want-“

Howard twists his neck up to look at her. “If we go back,” he grinds out, “it’ll go away. So will everything else. I… I don’t want that.” Leaning heavily into her arms, he stares forward, gaze fixed on the wooden door set into the wall at the end of this enormous hallway. It’s the only door that Azu can see.

“I don’t think I can walk there,” he whispers, cheeks red and eyes downcast. “I’m… it’s going to hurt more. It’s going to hurt so much more and, and Azu, I don’t think I’m strong enough. Sorry, I-“

“No, no, it’s alright.” Bending, Azu slides an arm under his knees, another around his back, and hefts him up to hold against her chest. For a second, she’s scared that she’s overstepped, but then skinny arms lock tightly round her neck, and Howard’s face is resting hot against her skin.

“See,” she murmurs, “you don’t have to do it on your own. I said I’d protect you, and I meant it.”

“Uh huh,” Howard groans, his pained panting hot and wet against her neck. “Your armour’s really uncomfortable, you know.”

A giggle chokes itself out of her, despite everything. “Ungrateful,” she tells him, but there’s no bite to her words, and she can feel Howard’s ridiculous moustache curl up into a smile.

Cradling the slight weight of him in her arms, Azu moves forward through the wide, airy space. They pass by ancient artefacts of rusting metal and crumbling stone, strange and beautiful, but Azu doesn’t have time to stop and look closer; the cloth at her neck is starting to cling damply from Howard’s tears. His chest expands and contracts sharply against the arm she’s supporting his back with, each breath juddering.

“Almost there,” she tells him, and they are, the door looming oddly large in her vision. It’s so out of place in this bright, marble hallway, plain and unassuming, and behind it Azu swears she can hear the creaking of timber and rope.

Carefully, she shift’s Howard’s weight in her arms, and reaches out.

It comes open so easily under her hand, almost weightless despite the thick, solid wood. Like it wants them to pass through. On the other side is… Azu can’t quite tell. It’s definitely something, but her eyes slide off it, refuse to categorise it. Instead, they end up on Howard’s face, collapsing in on itself in naked agony.

“It’s going to be okay,” she murmurs to him, rolling her shoulders back and taking one last deep breath of this place. “You’re going to be okay.”

Holding on tight as she can, Azu steps forward, and her vision goes white.

~~~~~

The sounds of the temple, and the city around them, filter in slowly, between breaths. Azu doesn’t feel as if she’s come back to her body – she’d never felt like she left it, as if she’d carried her physical self into the spectral plane with her – but she does feel she’s come back to this place, this plane.

Her arms are empty.

As soon as that occurs to her, Azu’s eyes flick open, darting immediately to the four bodies laid out on the floor. From the corners of her vision, she can see Zolf, Cel and Skraak stirring, but the bodies – their fallen – are horribly, wrenchingly still.

Azu stares, heart in her throat. It had worked, for Howard at least, she’d been sure of it. She’d _had_ him, solid in her arms, she can’t have failed again –

A twitch. Just one, from where Meerk’s body lies. Then another, and then Saassra’s body is twitching, and Wilde’s and, _thank you, Lady, thank you_ , Howard’s. The movements get more and more violent, becoming full muscle spasms. Standing on stiff legs, Azu looks frantically at the priests waiting behind them. They watch calmly, as if nothing is amiss, and that calms her enough to hold herself back.

Finally, the bodies on the floor go still. Azu’s eyes itch, but she refuses to let herself blink.

Then, as one, their eyes open.

Meerk jerks to their feet immediately, shouting in terror, head darting around the room like something hunted. Saassra just _screams_ , an awful, warbling screech of horrified pain, but like a streak of lightening Cel’s across the room and scooping her up into their arms, clutching her to them tightly and babbling soothing words. Skraak is already running to Meerk, grabbing their arms and holding them tight, shouting something in Draconic.

Beside them, Wilde jerks upright, so fast that Azu flinches back. For a moment, he stares blindly at her, eyes wide and helpless; then he folds over, bracing his hands on the floor and sucking in huge, desperate breaths.

Cart- Howard shudders, then slowly curls over onto his side, until he’s a tight ball on the floor. Even from here, Azu can hear his deep, agonised groan.

Nobody’s stopped Cel and Skraak, so she hurries forward, practically throwing herself to her knees in front of Howard. His skin is so cold when she reaches out and touches his shoulder, but when his face turns to her, his cheeks are flushed with blood, and his chest is heaving, and his eyes are welling, and he is _alive_.

“Azu?” he croaks. “What are you doing here?”

The laughter tears itself from her chest, and Azu sits back heavily on her heels, keeping her hand on Howard’s shoulder as it shifts and rolls under his skin, because there’s someone in his body again, because he’s alive. Beside her, Zolf is standing above Wilde, their handler’s face buried in his stomach as his shoulders shake. Her eyes meet Zolf’s and she’s sure that their expressions match.

The relief is a landslide, and it buries her entirely.

“You’re back,” she chokes out. “We did it, you’re back, you’re here.”

Howard stares up at her, and then flops heavily backwards, practically rolling onto her lap. “Oh good,” he mutters. “Any food around? I’m _starving_.”

Azu laughs, and laughs, even as tears spill down her face. Cel and Saassra are still managing to curl around each other despite the really incredible height difference involved, and Saassra is talking quietly to Meerk, who’s slumped on the floor with their head resting heavily on Skraak’s shoulder. Wilde still hasn’t let go of Zolf, and the dwarf has apparently accepted his lot, petting through Wilde’s hair and making soft shushing noises.

“I’ll get you food,” she tells Howard, voice breaking on the words. “Anything you want. We’ll have a feast.”

“Drink, too?” he asks, still staring up at her, and Azu can’t help pulling him up into her lap, into her arms. There’s so much inside her, pressing hot and vast against her ribcage as it fights to expand outwards, and she clutches Howard to herself until he winces; though she notices he’s holding her back as hard as he probably can.

“All the drink,” she whispers. “A proper celebration.”

“Well, okay then,” Howard mutters, a smile bright in his voice. “Let’s get plastered again, huh? Like old times.”

“Whatever you want,” Azu replies, helplessly delighted.

~~~~~

Stepping outside brings a rush of noise and cold air; the temple may have been open to the elements, but there’d been a quality to it that she remembers from the temples of her past. A stillness, as if it’s set a little outside the world.

The collection of their crew assembled on the steps don’t come to their feet as one, but they do all rise quickly. The kobolds surge forward in a staggered crowd to where Meerk and Saassra cling to each other, and both of them disappear under a pile of scales and frantic joy, a pile that Skraak and Cel quickly get sucked into.

Hamid, eyes wide, goes straight for Wilde, who drops to one knee to accept his missile of a hug. Azu watches them fondly, cheeks starting to ache from smiling, and then she spots James striding towards them.

He brakes sharply in front of Carter, and the two of them stare at each other for a moment. Finally, Carter manages a “Hey, Barnes.”

“You fucking bastard,” James whispers, and Azu realises this is the first time she’s heard him swear. “You utter, utter bastard.”

Howard actually scuffs his toe, and for a moment all Azu can see is that tiny slip of a child, curling into himself under the bench. “Didn’t do it on purpose, did I?” he mutters, eyes on the floor.

For a moment, Azu thinks James is going to hit him, and when he starts forward she does too, ready to step in. Instead, his arms practically slam into Howard’s shoulders, and he hauls the man in for a crushing hug.

Howard stumbles forward in his grip, falling heavily against his – friend? Azu’s never really known what those two are to each other, except for just ‘close’. He buries his head against James’s shoulder, and she can see his shoulders start to shake.

Noticing suddenly how close she is to them, Azu goes to back up. This is obviously such a private moment; the last thing she wants is to intrude on it.

A tug on her wrist stops her, and when she looks down, she sees James’s hand curled tight around her gauntleted wrist. He doesn’t seem particularly inclined to let go, so she stays, and waits, even though she can feel her cheeks start to burn. She stares off into the distance, waiting them out, and James’s grip never loosens.

After a good few minutes of fierce hugging, James finally releases Howard, looking him up and down again. “You look alive,” he remarks, and Azu can’t help but catch the wobble in his voice. “’S an improvement.”

“I thought so too,” Howard replies, his pale cheeks flaming. Azu resists the urge to scuff her own foot; she’d make a lot more noise than Howard. James still hasn’t let go of her wrist.

Thankfully, before Azu has to figure out what to say, Sohra approaches, a priest in tow. They nod to Azu, then give Howard a slight smile. “Howard Carter, it is good to meet you finally. Would you be willing to accompany me for a moment? While we do not expect any complications from your return, it would be imprudent not to check.”

To her surprise, Howard shoots a beseeching look at her. Azu stares blankly at him for a moment, then realises. He’s just woken up in a building he can’t remember entering, surrounded by strangers, and hadn’t she promised him she’d protect him?

“I trust them,” she tells him, and then, making sure to keep her eyes on him, “If they hurt you, which I don’t think they will, they’ll have me to answer to.”

That’s probably not the most tactful thing she could have said, but it works on Howard, and he allows himself to be led away with only one look back at her and Barnes. Sohra, for their part, gives her another respectful nod, so surely she hasn’t messed up too much.

Barnes keeps his eyes on Howard’s back until he’s out of sight, then he turns to her. His face is back to the same level non-expression she’s familiar with, but the way he looks at her feels… different, somehow. “Thank you. For bringing him back.”

“It was nothing,” Azu murmurs, and winces slightly as James raises an eyebrow. Quickly she says, “you know, he was a little boy when I found him.”

James blinks. “Seriously?”

“He was _tiny_ ,” Azu imparts, grinning. “I know humans are at that age, but even for that, _tiny_. Big fluffy hair, though.”

“I’d have paid good money to see that,” Barnes says wistfully. “Bet he was a handful.”

Azu can feel her smile melt away as she thinks of that little human boy, all that angry anxiety. “Actually, he was just… sad. Trapped. Whatever in-between space he was waiting in, it wasn’t a good space for him.”

Barnes nods, squaring his shoulders. “Good job he’s back with us, then. Plenty of time to fix that.”

“Yes,” Azu agrees. The massive pressure of her joy has folded up small as a blanket, tucking itself away tidily in the drawer of her heart, warming her through. Her prayers tonight will be full and bright as the moon above them. “It is a good job, isn’t it?”

**Author's Note:**

> number of chapters is shrugs. update schedule is hahaha. pls be aware what ur signing up for if u decide to subscribe for some fuckin reason


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